This September 27, 2017 article (5 minute read) by Kelly Grant of the Globe and Mail, “Ontario to force pharmaceutical companies to disclose payments to doctors”, reports on a new piece of proposed legislation for Ontario. The law, a first in Canada, will require mandatory disclosure of payments made to a number of regulated health professions by pharmaceutical companies. This legislation is similar to the US Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a law which requires Big Pharma payments to doctors of $10 or more to be published in an online searchable database.
Grant writes, “Joel Lexchin, a Toronto emergency-room doctor and York University researcher who recently published a book on the relationship between Big Pharma and Canadian doctors, said that when it comes to the “medical culture,” Canada and the United States are very similar.” It makes sense for there to be similar requirements for disclosure here so Canadians know how the medical profession is influenced.
